To Study or Not to Study

2 Million Minuets really opened up my eyes about the education in the US compared to education in other countries. By the end of the week I am exhausted ready to sleep in and have some time off. In other countries I feel like kids never get a break for football games or trips to the mall, their mind is only focused on school work. I do agree that the priorities of students in today's society may be a problem. It concerned me that at the Carmel High School in Indiana, the football players spent more than double the time practicing football than studying. It was also concerning that the town spent $13 million dollars on a new stadium and athletic facilities. Although I am a big believer in extra curricular activities, I think that the United States needs to find a balance between school work and fun. We need to revamp what being a student athlete is all about.

When watching this movie you could tell that it was extremely biased. Not all American teenagers sit around watching Greys Anatomy while "studying." Not all of us just go into the SAT thinking "hmm...I'm not going to try very hard, hopefully I'll do fine." I think high-schoolers in the United States have more pressure then ever before. With every passing year it becomes more difficult to set yourself apart from all other applicants for collage. Collages expect to see a number of activities on you application and if you fall short, too bad no excuses for not fitting in the extra time to become the president of Spanish Club or work with orphaned children on a mission trip. Teenagers are stretching themselves thin trying to impress the collage board. Community Service, Student Council, NHS, Team Captain, and Youth Leader are all activities collages EXPECT to see on your resume, what sets you apart...good question.

Although teenagers in India and China may stress themselves out studying to apply to the top collages in their country, Americans are stressing themselves out working to apply to the top collages in the country. In other countries grades and test scores are at the top of the list to be accepted. In America colleges look at scores but also your time management and how many hours you put into activities outside of school and how far you achieved in them, the more activities the greater chance your going to collage.

In both cases I feel that teenagers need to work hard but shouldn't have to feel that they must do more then they can handle. After all we are still kids and we should be able to enjoy life while we are young.